Connacht Tribune

By Tim Ryan, Correspondent

Serious concern about future of Apple Plant in Athenry

There is a serious worry that a second Apple plant to be built in Denmark could be a replacement for the plant planned for Athnery which has been mired with planning delays, Independent Deputy Noel Grealish told the Dáil.

On 23 February 2015, he said Apple announced to major fanfare its biggest project in Europe to date, a €1.7 billion investment in two data centres to be located in Athenry, Galway, as well as in Denmark. It had plans to create hundreds of local jobs in construction and operations, providing amenities for local schools and residents, as well as running the plants on clean and renewable energy from the outset. “Nearly three years on, the plant in Denmark is set to be up and running before the end of the year, as per Apple's projected schedule, while the plant in Athenry has not even secured full planning permission yet,” he said.

Apple, he said, announced last month new plans to build a second data centre in Denmark at a cost of more than €800 million, which will also run entirely on renewable energy. Apple considered 19 countries before settling in Ireland for one of the data centres and there was great excitement about job creation possibilities, opportunities for small, local businesses and communities, as well as the spin-off benefit of other multinational companies coming to Ireland on the back of such a successful global company choosing Ireland as its base.

“There is a bigger underlying issue of concern as Ireland is sending a signal to other large multinational companies looking for a European base that planning in Ireland can be mired in delays, with large infrastructural projects being held up for years on the back of minor objections,” he said. “The fear is that any multinational company examining Apple's experience in Galway may not consider Ireland.”

In reply, said he met the vice-president of Apple approximately two weeks ago. “We discussed Athenry,” he said. “She reaffirmed Apple's commitment to going ahead with the project. Notwithstanding that another data centre is going ahead in Denmark, provided planning permission is granted Apple remains committed to the Athenry project, which I very much welcome. However, the Apple representatives made it very clear to me that they are frustrated at the planning and judicial delays and while that will not affect this project it will colour decisions that they might make about future investments and, therefore, I share the Deputy's concerns in that regard.”

He said the Government is considering a change to the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act to include data centres as strategic infrastructure, thus allowing them to get through the planning process much more quickly.

15,000 people in Galway city waiting for a house since 2001 In Galway city, approximately 15,000 people have been waiting for a house since 2001, Independent Deputy told the Dáil. The crisis has been deliberately created, she claimed.

“In Galway city, rent is 213% more than rent supplement or HAP,” she said. “Crisis after crisis has come from an ideology that said the market will provide, but it has signally failed to provide. If the Minister () is telling me tonight that he is leaving ideology at the door, I welcome it. If he is telling me that he has suddenly realised a fundamental solution to this problem is the direct construction of social housing, I will be the first to praise him and champion that.”

Eighty-one countries have enshrined the protection of housing or a home in their constitutions but not Ireland, she said. “Included in that number are Belgium, Finland, Greece, The Netherlands and Portugal,” she said. “Other countries that have protected it in legislation include Austria, France, Germany and Luxembourg. Significantly, none of these countries has a housing crisis. The Minister might look at that.”

The Simon Community gives us a snapshot of the result of this crisis, she said. In August of this year, over three days it examined 11 areas in the country only to find that 91% of rental properties were unavailable to those in receipt of rent supplement or the housing assistance payment, HAP, which is “the only show in town” certainly in Galway city.

Kyne assigned new responsibilities

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told the Dáil that from 19 September last the Government had appointed Deputy Seán Kyne to be Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment with special responsibility for community, natural resources and digital development.

This, he said, was a technical reassignment following changes to departmental structures arising from the establishment of the new Department of Rural and Community Development.